The global net-zero transition necessitates the active integration of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) strategies alongside emission reductions. However, with CDR emerging as a finite resource, a clearer understanding of its availability, equitable distribution, and potential applications is critical. This symposium will focus on the Carbon Removal Budget (CRB) as a conceptual and practical tool to forecast, allocate, and manage the finite global potential of CDR in achieving and sustaining net-zero and net-negative emissions targets.
This interdisciplinary gathering will explore the theoretical underpinnings and practical implications of CRB, addressing the need to scale CDR technologies and integrate equitable principles for distribution across geographies, actors, and sectors.
Important Dates
- Abstract Submission Deadline: April 18th, 2025
- Notification of Acceptance: May 9th, 2025
- Full Papers Due: June 30th, 2025
- Symposium Date: July 31th, 2025, Rhodes House, Oxford
Key Topics
We invite submissions addressing (but not limited to):
- Defining the Carbon Removal Budget: Conceptual frameworks and methodologies for estimating CDR supply and demand in line with Paris-aligned pathways.
- Equity and Governance of the Carbon Removal Budget: Principles for the equitable distribution of the CRB among nations, regions, and sectors, and strategies for mitigating socio-economic disparities whilst maximising potential outreach.
- Embedding Carbon Removal Budgeting into Climate Governance: Exploring how the CRB can be embedded into international, national and local policy frameworks and processes.
- Utilisation Pathways: Optimal strategies for allocating CDR resources, including pricing models, sectoral applications, and future market mechanisms.
- National Carbon Removal Budgets: Quantitative and qualitative assessments of national carbon removal budgets and the implications thereof.
- Carbon Removal Budgeting for Corporates and Financial Institutions: Exploring the application of CRBs at an organisational or institutional level.
Agenda
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Arrival at Rhodes House, Oxford |
| 09:30 – 09:40 | Welcome and opening remarks
Dr Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance, University of Oxford |
| 09:40 – 10:00 | Primer on the Carbon Removal Budget
Dr Injy Johnstone, Research Fellow, Net Zero Aligned Offsetting, University of Oxford |
| 10.00 – 11.15 | Plenary Session I: Embedding the Carbon Removal Budget: From Policy Instruments to Global Governance Pathways
The CRB is a strategic tool for managing the finite global potential of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to meet net-zero and net-negative targets. This session explores embedding CDR targets within policy instruments—such as geological sequestration mandates—can operationalise the CRB by creating enforceable demand for durable CDR and supporting infrastructure. It further analyses opportunities and challenges for integrating the CRB across international governance frameworks and corporate net-zero standards, highlighting the importance of institutional uptake and standardisation to build credibility and alignment across sectors. |
| 11:15 – 11:45 | Tea / Coffee |
| 11:45 – 12:30 | Plenary Session II: Fireside Chat: Corporate Demand for Carbon Removal |
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Networking Lunch |
| 14:00 – 15:00 | Parallel Session A: Justice and Governance in the Carbon Removal Budget: Rebalancing Power, Access, and Accountability
As the CRB gains prominence as a framework for managing the finite global potential of CDR, critical questions emerge around equity, access, and governance. This session explores how current institutional, financial, and market structures shape who benefits from CDR deployment—and who bears its costs. Drawing on research from both U.S.-based and Global South contexts, this session will examine the intersecting dynamics of power, race, geography, and capital within the voluntary carbon market and multilateral governance regimes.
Parallel Session B: Institutional Innovation: Insights from the Commercial Application of Carbon Removal Budgeting As CDR becomes central to net-zero strategies, its integration into financial systems and carbon markets remains fragmented and underdeveloped—particularly in emerging economies. By examining institutional, technical, and regulatory challenges, this session will explore frontiers in financial innovation and robust market infrastructure–illustrating how it can help bolster credible and cost-effective CDR deployment strategies. |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Tea/Coffee |
| 15:30 – 16:45 | Plenary Session III: The Carbon Removal Budget Applied: Horizons of Regulatory Integration
As climate targets tighten across jurisdictions, integrating CDR into emissions trading schemes and financial systems is increasingly vital yet fraught with design, regulatory, and equity challenges. This session explores evolving policy, legal, and financial frameworks in the UK, EU, and India to operationalise industrial scaling of CDR within compliance and voluntary markets. Drawing from comparative analysis, legal scholarship, and economic modelling, the panel highlights strategies to embed CDR into national governance and unlock market-based investment while safeguarding environmental integrity and social equity through the advent of carbon removal budgeting. |
| 16:45 – 17:00 | Closing Remarks |
| 17:00 – 19:00 | Drinks reception at Rhodes House |
| 19:00 – 21:00 | Dinner at Rhodes House |
Submission Process
Abstract submissions have now closed.
For further information please contact injy.johnstone@smithschool.ox.ac.uk
Registration
Further information about how to register to attend the Symposium will be available in due course.